Obradovich: Education reform goal winds up as half-measures

May 9, 2012

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Gov. Terry Branstad asked for a bright, shiny apple from the Legislature in the form of “bold” education reform this year. What legislators delivered this week looks more like a few seeds and some skin.

The centerpiece of the education reform package is aimed at making sure children are reading at grade level by the end of third grade. Early-grade literacy efforts had the most bipartisan interest going in to the session and showed the most promise. It’s a worthwhile effort that could mean the difference between academic success and failure to many Iowa children.

Branstad wanted to make kids who couldn’t read by the end of their third-grade year repeat the grade. In the meantime, struggling readers would have extra help. Branstad’s budget shifted money from class-size reduction and staff development to pay for reading help.

Democrats were enthusiastic about directing resources toward extra help, but they refused to take it away from the existing programs. They also didn’t like the idea of flunking third-graders. They came up with a better idea, which the Legislature approved: Let parents choose between putting their child in an intensive summer-school program or holding him back a year.

The compromise: The Legislature created the early-literacy programs, but there wasn't any money provided to pay for most of it. They didn’t even pony up for the summer-school programs that are supposed to save Johnny or Jenny from repeating third grade.

Legislators noted there is time to get the money together before the legislation takes effect. For the third-grade retention provision, that’s not until the end of the 2016-2017 school year. They also hedged by writing into the bill that schools don’t have to do anything new unless the state comes up with the dough. In other words, nothing’s going to happen unless next year’s Legislature can do what this one could not — pay for their proposal.

What I see at work here is an attitude that is running through some other issues. Republicans are doing what they have to do to get out of session spending as little money as possible. They figure they’ll be in charge of both the House and Senate next year, and they can do what they want. If that happens, any program approved this year could be stillborn unless Branstad chooses to fight for the money.

Democrats, meanwhile, have never been overjoyed by most of the governor’s education reform ideas. All along, they have groused that it is too punitive toward teachers, too focused on standardized testing, too vague or stingy on spending. They’ve used this debate mostly as a platform to talk about what they’d do if they were in charge.

Lawmakers also authorized a study on the school calendar, a task force on competency-based instruction, a task force on educator evaluation and some research into online learning issues.

There’s more, but you get the gist.

Half-measures, studies and task forces may fulfill lawmakers’ goal of getting out of session and getting out on the campaign trail. But it will not help a single child who will enter fourth grade next fall without the ability to read “Where the Wild Things Are.” That child will already be in eighth grade, and maybe in danger of dropping out of high school, before third-graders start having to either read or repeat the grade.

Branstad has not committed to signing the bill, but he probably will. He called it an “important first step, with much work left to be done to give all students a globally competitive education.”

He’s come out of the session with a few seeds, but next year he’ll have to persuade a whole new legislature to plant them.

Correction: An incorrect reference to funding for a literacy center has been deleted.